Nanny accused of leaving kids in car while she went to tanning salon

Kristin Marie Jones of Portland, Ore., left a toddler and a baby locked in a car with the windows rolled up, police say. (KOIN)

A 23-year-old Oregon nanny was so desperate for a bronze glow that she left two small children locked in a minivan while she visited a tanning salon, police say.

Kristin Marie Jones of Portland, Ore., allegedly left a 3-year-old boy and 2-month-old girl in a Dodge Caravan with the windows rolled up on a day when temperatures reportedly soared at 90 degrees. The car was parked in front of Sun Blaze Tanning.

A passerby noticed the children and phoned 911. When officer Rian Hamby came to the scene on May 15, the toddler and baby were hot, sweaty and screaming. The officer wrote in his report that the boy was “soaked in sweat” and he could feel “the heat radiating from (the child) through his bullet proof vest.”

As Hamby was removing the children, Jones walked out of the salon and claimed she left the kids in the car with their mother. But when Hamby later learned the mother was at work, Jones admitted she locked the children in the car and lied because she feared getting in trouble.

Jones was charged with two counts each of first-degree criminal mistreatment and first-degree child neglect, according to KOIN-TV. She appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court last Friday and pleaded not guilty; her next court date is scheduled for August 15.